Fabric of a Shinobi
by Hans von Kleig
Summary: YYH/Naruto xover, Kurama goes undercover to stop Orochimaru and has adventures with the Naruto gang along the way, Kurama-centric but there will be some more YYH characters in later chaps, No Pairings yet but maybe, T for violence and manipulation


Disclaimer: I don not own Yu Yu Hakusho, Naruto or any of the characters therein; they are copyrighted to their respective owners. Additionally, this is a non-commercial, just-for-fun, work – I am not and will not be distributing it for profit of any sort.

The Fabric of a Shinobi

By Hans von Kleig

Chapter One:

This mission was not one he particularly relished; however, it did provoke a level of interest sufficient to make it worth his while. So he had accepted.

Frankly, his current human situation was dull. He was taking a gap year after he graduated from Meiou Academy in order to decide whether he wanted to attend Tokyo University, which was close by and would allow him to see his mother often or Stanford University, in California, the United States, which scintillated his Youko side more. Conveniently, the college search gave him the excuse he needed to disappear on this mission – he had told his mother that he would be taking a near yearlong _vacation _to help him decide whether he could handle the separation.

So now here he was, dressed in battle garb, his indigo and yellow tunic with white slacks and shirt, walking down a worn trail in a forest headed for a village that, according to Reikai intelligence was named Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. This mission was going to give him quite the romp; he just knew it.

-- Flashback --

Koenma, Prince of Reikai and Son of Enma, had sent Botan to fetch him. The matter, the Pilot of the River Styx told him, was _urgent_, which of course meant that it generated mounds more paperwork for Koenma. His boredom with the typical human routine however, was enough for him to acquiesce and follow Botan back to the Reikai.

When he reached Koenma's office he braced for the inevitable drawn-out ramble that the godling called a brief.

"What is the problem? And what must I do Koenma-sama?" Kurama said.

"This is unbelievably urgent Kurama!" Koenma said "There's a disturbance in the dimensional fabric between this dimension and the one we officially call the 'Shinobi Dimension.' From what our monitors have been able to gather some rouge maniac in the alternate dimension is expelling souls from people's bodies by force and taking them over as his own, which as you know is not just illegal but also causes the souls to perish. And when a soul perishes…"

"It emits a vast amount of spiritual energy that can easily damage the fabric between worlds," said Kurama.

"Well, yes, that's exactly it."

"That still does not explain what I must do or, for that matter, why I must do it. Don't you have people who handle inter-dimensional issues? Like the Reikai monitors, for example."

"Well, you see, the monitors are spirit creatures kind of like Ogre – they're reliable but weak. We need someone who's strong enough to take on this lunatic but cool-headed enough and expert enough to go undercover and stay that way," Koenma said "And, well, what other Reikai Tantei is like that?"

"I understand and I will take the mission," said Kurama "I assume it will take a while."

"Yes, probably about a year."

"So what are the details? What will I be going undercover as? Who and how powerful is the _lunatic_? Where will the mission take place in the Shinobi Dimension?"

"I don't know" Koenma said dismissively ", I had the monitors write me a summary of their findings, the details are in the file, which I am too busy, obviously, to read." Koenma then heaved a manila folder that appeared to have around 80-90 pages worth of documents in it on to his desk and motioned for Kurama to take it.

"Good luck Kurama, I know you can do it!"

-- End Flashback --

He knew he was getting close to Konoha now because the trees had thinned and he was now walking through a pass.

The report that the monitors had written was only 50 of the 87 pages in the file and it was barley more helpful than Koenma. Though it was 50 double-sided pages of 12 point condensed font, it only had 10 pages worth of information.

The only thing he learned from the report was that the lunatic's name was Orochimaru that he was one of the most powerful Shinobi around, called a Sannin, that he had been kicked out of Konoha after performing some vile and illegal experiments, and that he was now after a young shinobi of Konoha named Sasuke Uchiha. All of this was knowledge he could have gained while undercover – it did not help him now.

The other 37 pages, however, did help him. Reikai intelligence had obviously stolen these documents from Konoha's library or archives. There was a Shinobi Training Manual, a history of Konoha, and, randomly, a copy of much of Konoha's immigration laws. This was useful.

His plan, developed after memorizing and burning the contents of the file, was to _immigrate_ to Konoha and become one of its shinobi. This was remarkably simple, probably because no one immigrated to a shinobi village, from what the historical accounts said. All he had to do to become a legal citizen was to pass an interview by the ominously name Immigration Interrogator after which he could become a shinobi by passing a combination interview and test administered by the village leader, the Hokage.

But enough with these musings – he had arrived.

He stood in the same spot, about fifty feet from the two gate guards and waited for the shinobi, who were having an animated discussion about something-or-other, to spot him.

"Hey you there, with the red hair!" one of the guards said ", Who are you? And what is your business in Konoha?

"My name is Kurama Minamino and I would like to become a shinobi of this great village."


End file.
